From the people they’ve got involved with the special show they’re going to have in a couple of weeks on April 24th, and the sponsors they’ve already got lined up to sponsor the number of incoming phone calls, I think this relief effort is going to raise a couple of million dollars at least!

The focus of American Idol Gives Back is to raise awareness of poverty and it’s impact on children in the United States and in Africa. The two day event will entail the following:

• Tuesday April 24, your vote will count more than ever. Each time you call, sponsors will make a donation to Charity Projects Entertainment Fund to help children and young people in America and Africa.
• Wednesday April 25, a very special results show will feature a star-studded extravaganza of celebrity artists performing at both the American Idol stage and prestigious Disney Hall, including: Keira Knightley, Hugh Grant, Helena Bonham Carter, Forest Whitaker, Pink, Gwen Stefani, Mr. Bean – Rowan Atkinson, and Daniel Radcliffe from “Harry Potter!”

Do you realize it more stars and celebrities got involved like this and put their money where their mouth is, the efforts of Hollywood and professional sports teams could probably eliminate a significant portion of many of the problems that are not solved purely because of effort and money.

I applaud American Idol and its producers for trying to impact change in our world by using their clout and popularity to do something really good.

Post from: Idol Stalker

Of course, if you like crooners like Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, you’ll more than likely be a fan of Michael Buble too.

If so, don’t forget you can pre-order his new album “Call Me Irresponsible” on iTunes.

There’s also a special internet only edition that’s available directly from his website.

Post from: Idol Stalker

In addition, he’s also stated that if Sanjaya wins the competition he won’t be back to judge for future shows.

That’s my boy Simon!

Hat tip to the Starpulse News Blog for the heads-up

Post from: Idol Stalker

Post from: Idol Stalker

The show is starting off and they’re going back through the highlights of last night’s show. Lot’s of good performances, and better performances for many. Sadly, someone has to go home tonight and although I just glanced at the site and I think by seeing the post I know who got voted out, I’m STILL crossing my fingers hoping it will be Sanjaya.

New start off tonight, they’ve already divided the contestants into groups of three. And sadly and shockingly, Sanjaya is with Blake and Chris, so I’m doubting he’s going home yet again.

1. 1st Group: (Probably not going home)
   • Blake Lewis
   • Chris Richardson
   • Sanjaya Malakar
2. 2nd Group: (I’m guessing someone’s going home here)
   • Haley Scarnato
   • Gina Glocksen
   • Phil Stacey
3. 3rd Group: (not going home)
   • Jordin Sparks
   • Melinda Doolittle
   • LaKisha Jones

 American Idol Challenge tonight was nicknamed “Chicken Little”, the answer is Kevin Covais, so go here to enter and get your chance to win $100,000. More about the program of American Idol Gives Back, which I’m very proud of them for doing.

Up next we’ll be seeing Tony Bennett, but he’s sick tonight and he’s not going to be on the show tonight. Instead, we’ve got Michael Buble performing. AWESOME! Lot’s of contestants have been singing his songs this year. Singing “Call Me Irresponsible”, and doing a great job of course. I’ve loved Michael’s music since I first heard about him, but have never seen him perform live, and he’s exceeding my expectations. Many times singers aren’t as good in live performances, but he’s nailing it. It’s amazing he’s the level of crooner that he is at his age. On another note, I need to get the name of the 1st trumpet in the band, that guy is good! Absolutely excellent performance by Michael Buble. Ooh, only drawback is he says he’s still voting for Antonella Barba. He could do much better than that.

Coming back to the vote, Phil Stacey gets sent back safe this week. Good call America. It had better freakin’ not be Gina Glocksen this week. Ryan asks the judges if they got it right and none of them are saying anything!!!! Sanjaya should be in the middle of the stage right now by himself!

After just under 33,000,000 votes, they vote off Gina Glocksen before Haley and Sanjaya!!! This is freakin’ stupid! I am absolutely boycotting Vote For The Worst on anything they do ever again. Wrong America, wrong!

Gina Glocksen is going home

Now Gina’s got to follow-up this travesty of voting fubar and sing again. I hate making them do this, but I guess it’s about the best thing they can do.

We’ll see you next week. Hopefully between now and then the servers hosting Vote For The Worst will crash and self-ignite in a giant fireball. Note: I know the Vote For The Worst link doesn’t go to their website.

Post from: Idol Stalker

Blake Lewis
Blake is singing “Mack the Knife”, which according to Tony Bennett is “pre-rap” music. He’s nailing it to the floor man! Blake is totally smooth in just about everything he does on stage. The question will be if he adds any of his flair to the rendition. His dancing on stage reminds me of some of the moves Harry Connick, Jr. has in concert. Probably his best performance in my opinion. Great trumpet flair by the band at the end (coming from the guy who’s played trumpet for years)

• Randy: that was a very good way to start off the evening. Perfect song for you, couple of pitch problems. I liked it.
• Paula: you personify pizazz. “You’re just cool!”
• Simon: good choice of song, performed it well. 7-10, but gives the band 8-10. The band played a big part.

Phil Stacey
Phil has been looking forward to this week ever since he knew it was coming. He’s considers Tony a legend and Tony said that Phil is one of the better singers in the competition. I believe he did a good job on this genre.

• Randy: interesting choice, just didn’t feel any real connection or action
• Paula: reminiscent of a young Frank Sinatra, I still need you to have more joy and warm up the vocals. Have the personality come through
• Simon: had all the joy of singing in a funeral parlor, completely and utterly gloomy and slightly dark. No life in the performance

Melinda Doolittle
Singing “I’ve Got Rhythm”, and sporting a bit of a new look herself. Melinda’s phrasing and articulation as she’s singing is absolutely professional quality already. She’s putting a lot of personality into the performance, let’s see if the judges recognize it.

• Randy: you come out here every week and give everyone a lesson in singing, “this is how you do it right here America!”
• Paula: it’s like a master class, flawless from beginning to end.
• Simon: thought it was a bit cabaret, thought the 2nd half of the song was great, had personality and fun

Chris Richardson
Fan question, “What do you consider most when choosing a song?” First and foremost you gotta do something you’re comfortable with, then what the audience likes and hopefully the judges will like it as well. Chris is singing “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore”. A little bit of a transition for Chris on this performance from what he’s been doing the last couple of weeks. I think he’s really showing up tonight and bringing to the contest. He’s built himself up some more status for votes tonight I believe.

• Randy: one of your best performances of the whole season, you came out with a vengeance and interjected his own style
• Paula: didn’t compromise anything, made it so hip and cool. Best performance “bar-none”
• Simon: thought it was very good, very believable. Agree with Randy and Paula, made it kind of hip and worked it out very well. Probably one of the strongest tonight.

Jordin Sparks
Tony says that Jordin is terrific. Very intelligent about her improvisation as well. It wasn’t outlandish. She’s doing a good job, but I think Simon will label it “forgettable”. It seems to be at the height of her range too, which catches me off guard. Sounds like she’s straining more to hit the notes, I wonder if she’s fighting a cold or something. Last note was nice and strong though.

• Randy: we got some heat up here, the bomb again, she’s like a pro and only 17. what?
• Paula: you’re a natural and you exude when she’s onstage
• Simon: she sang it very well, but didn’t make the song young and current, very old-fashioned and traditional though

Gina Glocksen
With Gina singing “Smile”, this will be a vast departure from her normal style of song and performance. WOW! Let’s talk about a completely different look at this stage in the performance. Her classy style tonight reminds me of the same kind of contemporary style that Gwen Stefani has. She did a great job as well. It’s a contest tonight.

• Randy: very nice controlled, performance from the rocker girl. I liked that
• Paula: flawless performance
• Simon: not too pleased with the vocals, two other female performers came out and totally out-performed her.

Sanjaya Malakar
He says his goal this week is to make America see that he actually can sing. We’ll see. Looks like he found the flat-iron hairstyling that Melinda was using. I will admit that he’s doing a much better job this week, but everyone I’m sitting with tonight watching the show agrees that it just comes across as a high school level performance.

• Randy: what I like about you now is that you’ve turned into an entertainer
• Paula: “I get why people love you”
• Simon: let’s try something different this week, “incredible” [Was that sarcastic?]

Haley Scarnato
Big discussion in my brother’s living room tonight about whether or not Haley is portraying herself a little too “trampy” with some of her warddrobe choices.  I didn’t really have a problem too much with what she’s worn, but she’s definitely displaying a significant amount of cleavage this performance. My brother said this, if she were your wife or girlfriend, would you want her dressing like that? Her performance is coming across very cabaret tonight with “Ain’t Misbehavin’”.

• Randy: thought this would be a good style week for you. what about you Paula [Randy totally didn't say anything]
• Paula: did I mention you look good in green
• Simon: you’ve got great legs. A little pageanty.

LaKisha Jones
Picking “Stormy Weather” is totally the right choice for LaKisha tonight. She should be able to totally rock this performance with this style and particularly this song. LaKisha brought back the gauntlet tonight, but so did just about everyone else so we’ll see what happens.

• Randy: loved it, perfect song for her
• Paula: most gorgeous she’s ever looked, sounded beautiful as well
• Simon: sassy, great performance!

So, what will it be this week? Will Sanjaya go home? Honestly at this point, I don’t think so. He’s probably still got a couple of more weeks on the show. I think he’ll be around until some other contestants are out and the people voting for them start piling up their votes for the other contestants that can actually sing.

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See more and larger photos after the jump

Post from: Idol Stalker

She’s been quite active since American Idol, on top of releasing her album, she’s also written a book about her experience on the show. The book is titled “Idol Eyes”.

Post from: Idol Stalker

I always liked Anthony’s voice and he had a great background story for himself as well. The BuddyTV interview gives us more information about Anthony and of course some of his opinions on the current American Idol 6th season.

Here’s Anthony’s response to a question about his own experience on American Idol:

Well, my experiences on the show…where do I start?  It was definitely a rollercoaster.  I mean, I know it is a cliché and everybody says it, but it really is in every sense of the word.  The biggest plus for me was the fact that I got a crash course on the music industry in less than a year.  Being on that show gives you an idea of how your life can be like if you succeed as an individual artist when you become a superstar.  While you’re on the show, I mean, you’re exactly that; you’re a star, you’re one of the most famous people in America, everybody watches you.  So, it taught me a lot and I mean I grew up a lot by being on the show.  I really didn’t have a chance to observe myself while I was on the show because you’re so busy and every second of your day is accounted for, you really don’t have a chance to reflect on how you’re doing.  So I would have to say that I learned about my highs when I got off the show, when things died down a little bit.  I definitely became a more experienced person when it came to the business and the aspect of handling yourself in the music business world. 

Did you know that Anthony is writing a column for Entertainment Weekly where he judges the judges each week? He’s joined by Ace Young and Kimberly Locke as well.

Post from: Idol Stalker

I’m looking forward to the live performance tonight from Gwen Stefani. Can’t wait to see what she’s wearing and what she’s singing.

I think the ones to worry about tonight are going to be Chris Sligh and Chris Richardson. Hopefully Sanjaya will be the one to go home this week, but if he makes it through again. One of the two Chris contestants are probably the ones to be a little anxious on the votes.

The Ford commercial this week shows off the Mustang, so we’ve got a little bit of a western theme in the commercial. Okay, well not a little bit, completely western theme.

• Blake Lewis – safe (no surprise there!)
• LaKisha Jones – safe (no surprise again)
• Phil Stacey – bottom three (little surprised there actually)
• Melinda Doolittle – safe (absolutely no surprise)
• Chris Richardson – safe (a bit surprised)
• Sanjaya Malakar – safe (what the crap!)
• Haley Scarnato – bottom three (not a big surprise, but wish it wasn’t true)
• Jordin Sparks – safe (good job girl!)
• Chris Sligh – bottom three (not surprised given my previous comments)
• Gina Glocksen – safe (she did a good job again)

If you haven’t voted yet, here’s the Idol Challenge this week. Who’s the “Velvet Teddy Bear”, Bo, Ruben or Taylor. Ummm, let’s go with Ruben Studdard. Go vote now.

Gwen Stefani performs “Sweet Escape”, which she also performed recently on the Ellen Degeneres tour.

Bottom three is confirmed: Chris Sligh, Haley Scarnato and Phil Stacey.

Phil just gets sent back, he’s safe again for another week. Simon says it’s “bye-bye curly” and that’s a vote for Chris going home.

Chris goes home. There’s lots to be said about rhythm coming through. It’s probably one of the most noticeable things the average viewer can really pick up on and catch when it’s not quite right. Chris is a good guy, and I’ll absolutely miss his comedic personality and outlook with everything. You could always count on him bringing a smile to your face for something.

Next week we’ll be enjoying the songs of Tony Bennett.

Post from: Idol Stalker